Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

The online economy has not only transformed businesses globally, it has also created a number of challenges and opportunities for accounting businesses.

Challenges CPAs Face Online

CPAs today must work harder than ever before to remain competitive. Not only do they have to become actively involved in the communities and industries they serve, they must also maintain a strong presence online. This includes having an effective website and figuring out smarter ways to grow your business services online.

In addition to spending money marketing offline, businesses in the accounting industry are also finding that increasingly larger amounts of their budget will need to be directed to develop and manage a website that brings new prospects, engages users, outperforms the competition in search engines and helps to increase their marketing exposure online.

This means that your site not only has to look great, load fast, and your website has to be easy to navigate, but even more importantly, the needs of your website will change in time and sections will need to be updated frequently. This requires having a sound website and content management strategy in place.

One other problem that accountancy firms (and other professions) face online, is that your site has around thirty seconds or less to give visitors what they need or they will leave and go elsewhere.

“Websites have evolved into central information hubs where service information is still present but enhanced with web portals, hyperlinks to state and federal sites, and a variety of free tools.”

Michael Alter, http://www.accountingweb.com/technology/accounting-software/tips-for-improving-your-website

Opportunities For CPAs In The Digital Economy

As well as facing many new challenges, there are also plenty of online opportunities available to businesses in the accounting sector that can evolve to meet online challenges and think progressively when it comes to marketing their business better online.

This detailed guide will help you uncover opportunities to find new business and establish stronger online credibility for your accounting or financial services business.

As well as providing tips and information on cost-effective ways to improve your web presence, we also emphasize the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress content management system to power your accounting business website or blog.

To learn more about the benefits and advantages of using WordPress, go here:

• Learn Why A Poorly Constructed Web Site Can Cost You Money And What To Do About It
• Using A WordPress Site To Grow A Successful Business

Useful Tips For Improving Your Website

In this section we will start with the basics and show you how to improve your website and get better results online. We will look at what pages a financial services website needs, what content you need, your layout and navigation structure, etc.

If you need specific help with website planning, read this detailed step-by-step guide we have written: A Practical Guide To Website Planning For Non-Technical Business Owners

Basic Web Pages

All websites require several basic web pages. Let’s go over the pages your  need and how to structure your website for best results.

Services And Products Page

You need to include a page that describes your services and any products that you offer.

This page will include all the products and services you offer, such as:

• Business – business planning, incorporation of companies, accounting, payroll, financial statement compilation, bookkeeping, forecasting, financing, budgeting, strategic planning, consulting, etc.
• Taxation – preparing, planning, reviewing, auditing, advising, problem resolution
• Investment strategies
• Corporate finance
• Wealth creation
• Superannuation/retirement plan (401k) advice
• Audit risk assessment and assurance
• Quickbooks – setup, training, tune up, and support
• Specialist services – mergers, acquisitions, information technology, secretarial, rentals, trusts, fiduciary accounting, succession planning, selling businesses, asset transfers, etc.
• Lending and leasing

Make sure to list all of the services you provide, not just the ones you specialize in. Provide your visitors with information that will educate them about what your services do and why they should book an appointment with you.

About Us

The ‘About Us’ page needs to describe your business and explain to visitors what your business stands for, its unique approach, sponsored community programs, etc.

It should list any CPA awards, certifications, recognitions, accreditations, publications, associations, etc., that can be used to promote the company and position it above other competitors.

(List all of your awards recognitions, accreditations, certifications, publications, associations, etc. in your About page. Image source: deloitte.com)

Meet Your Staff

If you are searching for quicker and simpler ways to sell more products or services online or get people to interact more with your site, then something you can do, is make it easier for your visitors to get to know you and your organization better.

You want people to relate to your business. A great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your staff. It should include a photo and a mini biography. Since most visitors will not tend to be familiar with accounting terms it should tell who they are and what their specialties are. You may also want to explain what those specialties mean. This page should also include social buttons so your visitors can follow your staff members on their social pages.

On this page, don’t be afraid to show the human side of your team members with personal stories, hobbies, etc., but make sure to highlight each team member’s experience, why they are an invaluable asset to your team, and more importantly, how they will help add value to your clients’ business.

(Add a ‘meet the team’ page. Image sourced from: deepsky.com)

For a detailed tutorial about how to create and add an easy-to-maintain simple employee directory in your website using free plugins, go here: How To Create A Simple Staff Directory For Your WordPress Site

Job Opportunities

List any career opportunities within your organization. This page should include type of training provided, benefits, opportunities for advancement, etc. It should include case studies of graduates who have worked their way up in your company and information about additional career opportunities in the accounting and financial services industry.

Maintain a positions available section in your page. If there are no positions currently available, consider inviting people to return periodically to this page, subscribe to your updates list, follow your social pages, etc.

Case Studies And Testimonials

Case studies and testimonials are a great way to show potential clients what type of solutions you can implement to help solve their problems. By adding a page with case studies and client reviews, you are also helping to provide potential clients with social proof.

(Add a page to your site with testimonials and case studies. Screenshot source: pcg-services.com)

If you want to learn more using case studies, testimonials and client reviews to improve your business results online, go here: Learn How To Improve Your Sales Conversions Using More Effective Testimonials

Contact Us Page

Having a functional contact page is crucial.

Your contact page should provide:

• Name
• Your address
• Telephone
• Fax
• Email
• Google Map and directions
• Website URL
• Contact form
• Name of person to contact
• Social media links
• Online chat (optional)

If you have different areas you will want to make that clear when displaying your address and contact information.

Consider also including links to an FAQ section, main pages, special offers, support area, newsletter, blog, etc.

Add An Accounting Blog Section

A blog can be a very powerful business marketing tool. Most blogging platforms typically include a content management system that is easy to use and allows you to promote your business using timely content such as announcements, updates, training information, opinions on current topics, how-to videos, infographics, etc.

If you already have an existing website, then consider adding a WordPress-driven blog to promote your services.

If you don’t have a website yet, or your existing accounting website is hard to manage or not giving you the results you want, then WordPress can act both as your website and blog.

Something few people know about, is that WordPress can become an automated traffic machine that can instantly begin attracting new visitors to your business, simply by adding content to your website on a consistent basis.

(An expertly configured WordPress site can automate your traffic generation)

Go here to learn more: WordPress Website Traffic Blueprint – How To Create A Web Traffic Generation Machine With WordPress

Legal Information

As a professional accountant, ensuring that you have a website that complies will all legal requirements online is extremely important, not just for establishing credibility with prospective clients, but also to ensure that you are not breaching local, regional or federal laws and regulations in whatever area or location you service.

Adding the following legal pages to your accounting or financial services site will help you stay out of legal hot water with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers (e.g. Facebook), and other potential legal threats and inconveniences:

• Contact Us
• Privacy Statement
• Terms And Conditions
• Website Disclaimer
• Affiliate Agreement
• Anti-Spam Policy
• Compensation Disclosure
• DMCA Notice
• Earnings Disclaimer
• External Linking Policy
• Financial/Health Disclaimers
• Refund Policy
• Video/Audio Terms
• etc.

Go here if you would like to learn more about adding legal pages to your website: How To Add Legal Pages To Your Website

Improve The Content On Your Site

In today’s ultra competitive digital economy, content marketing has become one of the key success differentiators for businesses.

Providing great content with information and tips will get your readers to share your content online with others and come back for more information. Using content is a great way to educate your visitors and prospective clients about your business and about using your services and products.

For example, for an accounting business, topics can include:

• Explanations of balance sheets
• Understanding profit & loss statements
• Duties and legal responsibilities of company directors
• How to present accounts for fundraising activities
• Business cashflow planning
• Maximizing business insurance cover
• Risk prevention
• Tips on structuring a self-managed retirement fund
• Dos and don’ts of … (e.g. purchasing insurance, claiming business expenses, etc.)

You can also create a series of educational articles that will help your your prospective clients understand your services, such as finance accounting, tax accounting, business auditing, reducing debt, understanding financial conventions, etc.

Remember to use the same keywords and terms in your content that your readers would search for online.

We recommend subscribing to our Content Marketing Email Training Series. You will receive a comprehensive series of training emails with easy-to-digest information that will show exactly how to drive more traffic to your web site, save money creating high-quality content for your site visitors and grow your business online using content marketing strategies. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also completely FREE!

Improve Visitor Engagement And User Experience

Improving your website’s user experience (typically referred to as UX) helps you keep visitors coming back and using your site. This section will show you different ways to improve your visitor engagement and UX.

Syndicating Content Using RSS Feeds

Adding RSS feeds can help to improve your visitor engagement and UX in several ways.

If you provide valuable information, other sites may want to syndicate your content to their visitors.

Some of the benefits of syndicating your content to other businesses using RSS feeds, include:

• All of your content updates are kept in one place
• your content distribution doesn’t rely on email
• Can be shared and picked up by other sites online
• RSS feeds allow users to subscribe
• A feed provides links to your content
• RSS feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregators
• RSS provides multiple ways for readers to receive your content (e.g. users can read your content on their mobile device using different applications)
• It’s built into WordPress

There are also benefits to providing valuable information on your site from other websites, such as the fact that you don’t have to write, manage or update the content.

You can find RSS feeds with useful content for your website by searching online for relevant government departments and well-known industry bodies.

Below we have listed examples of RSS feeds containing useful information that you could consider adding to your accounting website:

• Taxation Policy Center: http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/press/rss.cfm
• Australian Taxation Office: https://www.ato.gov.au/RSS-news-feeds.aspx
• Canada Revenue Agency: http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/rssfeeds/
• UK HM Revenue and Customs: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/rss/rss.htm
• South Africa Revenue Service: http://www.sars.gov.za/Pages/RSS-Feeds.aspx

(RSS feeds can help to improve your website’s user experience.)

Provide Forms & Checklists

Checklists and forms are a fantastic way to help increase user engagement and add value to your visitors. Checklists and forms can provide useful instructions and resources to perform tasks. They can also be great business planning tools.

You can provide forms and checklists covering a range of topics such as:

• How To Set Up A Business
• Negative Gearing Worksheet
• Non-Profit Governance Checklist
• Disclosure Requirements
• Individual Tax Checklist
• Self Managed Super Fund Tax Checklist
• Income Tax Variation Forms

Provide Other Tools

Providing useful online tools, gadgets and applications for businesses (or links to these tools) on your website can help increase visitor engagement and add significant value to your target audience. Calculators, such as loan and tax calculators, are some of the most popular tools for accounting websites. Other tools would include time cards, or retirement and interest calculators.

In the next section of this guide, we take a look at a several online tools you can add to your website using WordPress plugins and themes that can help to improve your seo, improve user engagement and generate more visitors to your business.

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This is the end of part one of this guide on ways to build your accounting business web presence.

Click on this link to continue reading:

• Your Accounting Website – Improve Search Engine Optimization, Improve User Engagement And Increase Web Traffic Generation With WordPress Plugins

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